CHINA: 18 people feared killed, 189 others injured in truck explosion

Tragedy struck on the Shenyang-Haikou Expressway south of Shanghai when a truck laden with liquefied gas exploded on Saturday afternoon killing no fewer than 18 people and injured 189 others in the process.

Concerned authorities say that the explosion caused extensive damage to nearby buildings. One photo showed firefighters hosing down a row of buildings with blown-out facades well into the night.

Eyewitnesses told the official Xinhua News Agency that the truck carrying liquefied gas exploded around 4:45pm on the Shenyang-Haikou Expressway south of Shanghai in Zhejiang province.

A worker at a nearby restaurant told Xinhua that the blast shattered the windows of her home, but that her mother and brother were unharmed.

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The cause of the accident is under investigation, media said.

This came after Chinese authorities shut down parts of Beijing on Saturday after six new domestic COVID-19 cases were reported, fueling fears of resurgence in local transmission in the area.

Reports say people were prevented from leaving their homes at 11 residential estates in south Beijing’s Fengtai district after most of the cases were linked to a nearby meat market.

Authorities in Beijing temporarily closed a major wholesale market in the city after the National Health Commission (NHC) said that at least two of the infected people had visited the Xinfadi market.

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